The present invention is directed to wheeled carts and more particularly to adjustable powered maneuverable carts.
Load bearing carts are in wide use in a variety of industries. For example, carts or wheelbarrows are used in the construction and mining industries, hand trucks or light duty forklifts are used in the manufacturing and shipping industries, and carts or gurneys are used in health care industries.
Workmen are often required to transport heavy loads in and around construction sites. Needed materials are unloaded from trucks or the like, and either carried by a group of workers, or by wheelbarrow, to material piles on the construction site. These materials are usually heavy and cumbersome. Additionally, the areas in and around the site are usually difficult to maneuver through for a variety of reasons.
While wheelbarrows are successfully adapted for transporting brick, block, and concrete--oddly shaped materials such as rebar, sheet rock, particle or plywood boards, and other lumber are difficult to transport on existing wheelbarrows and construction carts. Materials of this type must be carried by hand through tight spaces increasing construction time and costs.
Forklifts are well known in the manufacturing and shipping industries and are widely used in warehouses, shipping terminals, and along production lines for transporting goods and materials.
Forklift designs vary widely with each design adapted for a particular type of task. While some forklifts are capable of maneuvering in tight quarters, they are difficult to operate, expensive, often require that materials be transported by pallets, and are not capable of rotating about their vertical center.
Hospital patients and the like are often moved from one location to another on carts known as gurneys. On any given hospitalization a patient may be moved several times. A patient may be admitted on a stretcher and transferred to an examination table. From the examination table a patient may be transferred by a gurney for X-rays, an MRI, or the like. This same patient may then be transferred by gurney to his or her room. If surgery is deemed necessary the patient will be transferred by gurney to an operating room, and then after surgery, by gurney, to a recovery room. This same patient will likely be moved from the recovery room back to his or her room by gurney.
Thus, it may be seen that patients are moved extensively to various specialized areas located within any given hospital. Gurney designs, and the architectural design of most hospitals make it difficult to maneuver gurneys about hospitals.
Gurneys must have a fairly long and narrow wheel base to accommodate the narrow corridors and elevators found in many hospitals. Corners and narrow doorways also add to the labor intensive nature and inherent difficulty found in moving patients, often in life threatening situations, through hospitals.
Additionally, the height of many examination tables, examination device tables, hospital beds, and the like, make it difficult to transfer patients onto and off of gurneys from such tables or beds.
Accordingly, a principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved maneuverable cart.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a powered maneuverable cart that may easily traverse tight and difficult areas.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a powered maneuverable cart that requires little or no effort to operate.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a powered maneuverable cart that is silent in operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a powered maneuverable cart that is rugged and durable in construction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a powered maneuverable cart that will allow a transportable's position on the apparatus top to be manipulated from a flat position to any of an infinite number of varying combinations of elevated front or rear positions.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a powered maneuverable cart that has height adjustment controls for facilitating the positioning of a transportable on or off of the apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a powered maneuverable cart that is highly maneuverable.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a powered maneuverable cart that may be driven sideways.
Finally, another object of the present invention is to provide a powered maneuverable cart that may be power rotated about its vertical center.